The fall-out from the hack of the Milan-based Hacking Team continues with all sorts of revelations about how the powerful would like to continue spying on the largely powerless. Adobe Flash vulnerabilities continue to be revealed while the US National Security Agency will be pretty hacked off following the discovery of its latest spying techniques. Meanwhile users of a website that facilitates affairs must be feeling nervous as hackers promise to spill the beans on names, addresses and even sexual fantasies.

CEO stalked by hacker group, company taken down; free BlackBerry devices loaded with snooping software handed out to rival politicians; New York Stock Exchange, United Airlines and Wall Street Journal go offline all within a few hours of each other; unsurprising revelations about the UK police seeking out spying software and more.

There’s rarely a quiet moment in the world of cyber miscreants and the past week testifies to this. From a newspaper columnist being threatened by Anonymous to retract her ‘strong’ opinions, to a private eye being jailed for hiring hackers, it’s all going on. And of course, another major flaw has been discovered, this time in Adobe Flash Player.

Seismic shock waves are still juddering through the US establishment and flights are grounded in Poland. At the same time the revelations about the extent of NSA/GCHQ spying are still spilling out and the latest batch of documents reveal how GCHQ attempted to undermine consumer security software. And the humble plain pitta bread could find itself thrust into the annals of international cyber skulduggery… and more including a serious Samsung Galaxy vulnerability

The US government recently revealed details of a hack in which up to 4 million records of current and former employees were scooped in a hack. Fingers were pointed at the Chinese who have track record when it comes to this sort of attack. But no one is entirely clean and certainly the US has created its fair share of silent and devastating malware platforms that are still out there. And this sort of thing has actually been going on for years.

Password management company LastPass hacked, but it’s safe; inside the mind of a teenage ransomware creator; Iran is rampant in its cyber-attacks across the Middle East; Israeli hackers break into Foxconn and more devilish doings in the world of cyber space

The release of new Apple product is always greeted with near hysteria and the Apple Watch is no different. The ability to buy goods by waving your wrist at a terminal is one of the features proudly touted by Apple, as is the technically tough security of its Apple Pay system. And certainly these are achievements to be acknowledged. But just how secure is it and how long will it be before some hacks it?

Industry reports can be as appetising as chewing on wet concrete. But two recently released missives from Infonetics and Verizon paint interesting if not alarming pictures; the growth of mobile malware is rapidly accelerating and the hacked credit card industry is worth more than the global trade in cocaine. Reading between the lines both reports point to a well-known but rarely voiced truism; you can only ever really rely on yourself because those charged with protecting our data, simply aren’t doing it.

From attempts to take terror group ISIS off social media, to hacking into nuclear power plants, selling secrets to the KGB and accessing former UK prime minister Tony Blair’s private information, hackers have gained a lot of notoriety. They have made governments and global blue chips look like monkeys when it comes to IT security, and they continue to scoff at the ‘establishment.’ But are they really that bad or do some of them have a point? Below is a breakdown of some of the more infamous groups and their deeds; you can decide for yourself.

The European Union’s decision to change data protection laws is a massive boost for individual privacy. It puts privacy back in the hands of individuals and firmly places the onus on companies to gain consent from individuals before sinking them beneath an unwanted avalanche of direct marketing. Here’s what it means for you.